An optical fiber connector incorporated in equipment used in connection with optical communications equipment is frequently connected and detached. Accordingly, when such a connector is detached grease or dust or the like can become stuck to the end surface of the optical fiber connector which leads to a decrease in transmission performance. When the optical fiber connector is attached or detached the ferrule end surface must be cleaned.
However, a connector that is on the insertion and attachment side, that is to say the side that is inserted (male side), is relatively easy to clean as the end surface thereof is exposed, while the insert receive side (female side) of a connector incorporated in an equipment is difficult to clean, because a connecting adapter is attached to the female side of the connector and the end surface to be cleaned is far back from the adapter. Thus, a variety of different cleaning tools (for example Japanese Patent No. 3350850, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H9-285766) have been proposed, however these do not provide a tool with superior cleaning properties suitable for practical use and normally a cotton applicator of a cleaning fiber wrapped around the end of a bar-like member is used as a cleaning tool.
A cleaning tool such as the cotton applicator is subject to deficiencies. It is difficult for cleaning to be performed uniformly, and differences arise from cleaning operation to cleaning operation and between individual operators. Using such a cotton applicator tool a substantial amount of time is required for cleaning a device such as optical communications equipment in which a large number of connectors is incorporated and substantial insertion loss results when the cleaning fiber becomes detached during a cleaning operation.